''Beauty and the Beast'' is a 2009

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fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

directed by David Lister and starring

Estella Warren Estella Dawn Warren (born December 23, 1978)"Estella Warren". ''Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television''. Vol. 69. Gale, 2006. Gale Biography In Context. Web. May 26, 2011. is a Canadian actress, fashion model and former synchronized swimmer. ...

, Rhett Giles, and Victor Parascos, and loosely based upon the

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

of the same name. The film was released in 2009 on

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under that title and aired in 2010 on

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

television as ''Beauty and the Beasts: A Dark Tale''.

Plot

A series of horrific murders has the Beast being blamed for the crimes. Belle (

) and Beast (Victor Parascos) must work together to investigate the crimes and discover who the true murderer is and why they're committing these murders.

Cast

as Belle * Rhett Giles as Count Rudolph * Victor Parascos as The Beast * Vanessa Gray as Lady Helen * Peter Cook as Duke Edward * Nicholas G. Cooper as Duke Henry * Gabriella Di Labio as Anna * Tony Bellette as Otto *

Damien Garvey Damien Garvey is an Australian actor and former musician known for his film and television roles. Early life Garvey graduated from Padua College in 1982. Career Garvey had guest roles in several drama series in his early part of his act ...

as Dr. Thorne * Anthony Kidd as Kurt * Todd Levi as Baron Conrad * Tony Thurbon as King Maxililian * Alex Kuzelicki as Troll

Production

The project was filmed in Australia at locations on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

and at studios at the

Village Roadshow Studios Village Roadshow Studios are a set of film studios located in Oxenford, Queensland, Oxenford, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The studios are owned by Village Roadshow and consist of nine sound stages as well as a rang ...

adjacent to Warner Bros. Movie World in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Reception

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' reviewed the film and offered that it was "an odd, bloody, cheaply made" adaptation "designed not for kids, but young guys heading toward a date with a Sunday-morning hangover." Toward the film as a "re-imagining" of the beloved ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

'', they offered that

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"needn't lose any sleep." Other critical reception for the film was negative, with ''The Trades'' writing "Shun this ugly duckling, and hope that the future plans for other retellings from SyFy learn from this one's mistakes."

Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...

panned the film, criticizing the chemistry between Estella Warren and Victor Parascos, stating "Xena and her female sidekick Gabrielle shared more sexual chemistry than these two." New Zealand-based review site Mori.co.nz praised Rhett Giles' acting but criticized the film as a whole.

Tor.com ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...

reviewed the film, saying "SyFy seems to have given this venture the same short shrift it’s given all its other movies, and their premiere effort ends up simply east-related pun. '' Filmink'' negatively reviewed ''Beauty and the Beast'', calling it "a spectacular calamity that genuinely has no saving graces whatsoever." Conversely, ''Monsters & Critics'' praised the film "for all its camp, overwrought acting, diabolical machinations and just plain old silly B-movie fun" and concluded their review by writing, "Given all the horrible, sad news going on in the world especially today, ''Beauty'' is just what the doctor ordered for a short respite from the misery."

References

External links

* * {{Beauty and the Beast Syfy original films Films set in the Middle Ages 2009 films 2000s English-language films Films based on Beauty and the Beast Films shot at Village Roadshow Studios Films directed by David Lister 2000s American films